We were thrilled when we received a call from Canada’s History magazine asking if they could interview someone for their Canadians and the World segment. We immediately put them in touch with Julia Goulden, one of CoDev’s co-founders. We really appreciate their interest in our work and the role it has played over almost three decades in building partnerships for global justice.

Visit the Canada’s History website to listen to the audio of Julia Goulden’s interview.

In the February-March 2012 issue of Canada’s History, Joanna Dawson and Beverley Tallon enlightened us about seven Canadians who have made a difference (see page 59). As part of our Canadians and the World online extensions, we introduce you to: Julia Goulden.

Special education teacher Julia Goulden founded CoDevelopment Canada in 1985 after seeing a stirring photograph in a daily newspaper. The photo, which showed a group of female teachers raising their arms against a crowd of police, moved Goulden to foster a partnership between the B.C. Teachers’ Federation and an organization of teachers in Peru.

This was CoDev’s first project and 26 years later, CoDevelopment Canada has far exceeded Goulden’s initial expectations. “Initially it was a very small organization that basically worked in the education sector. Over the 26 years, we’ve really engaged other unions. It’s just grown that more people are involved, more organizations see themselves in solidarity with us,” explained Goulden. “That was always the goal from the beginning. Over the years, it has progressively grown larger and has evolved.”

Today, CoDev partners with 17 Canadian organizations in a range of Latin American countries. CoDev supports such initiatives as gender equality in Central American education, labour rights in the Maquila garment industry, and grass-roots human rights initiatives for Colombian public sector workers.

After 25 years of service with CoDevelopment Canada, Julia Goulden stepped down from CoDev’s board in 2010. Julia recently spoke with Katherine Dow, Editorial Intern at Canada’s History Magazine about her work with CoDev.

–Katherine Dow

For the 11th year CoDev is thrilled to be hosting the Vancouver stop of the World Community Film Festival on Feb 10-12, 2012 at Langara College. This unique festival of amazing documentaries is curated by one of our Canadian Partners, the World Community Development Education Society in Courtenay, and is BC’s largest social justice film festival.

The festival’s mandate is to gather Vancouver’s diverse social justice community to a festival that allows for reflection, provides a forum for discussion and prompts participants to action. While the issues are often difficult, we feel it is important to provide tools and ideas for solutions.

The films at the festival act as tools for awareness, analysis, action and collaboration. They allow us to gain an understanding of others’ perspectives, explore new ideas and engage in conversations.  We hope these films will spark dialogue within your communities and provide possibilities to get involved, or to deepen our involvement, with issues that matter to you.

What’s great about the 2012 festival?

• Two days packed with great films
• An opening lecture with Richard Heinberg, author of The End of Growth
• A Sat night film that’s Louder Than a Bomb
• One of our Latin American partners – Berenice Celeyta/NOMADESC – is the feature of the film Defensora
• A very affordable weekend pass for $35 + many types of discounts
• If you’re interested in a particular issue we’ve listed our films by theme
• After watching a film you can find out how to get involved by visiting the social justice bazaar where many local organizations will have information tables
• We have a number of filmmakers joining us for the festival including David Lavallee, the director of White Water Black Gold, Faroe Des Roche from The Pipedreams  Project, Richard Boyce, the director of Rainforest, and Grant Baldwin and Jen Rustemeyer from The Clean Bin Project.
• Our supporters! In addition to those of you who support us by attending this great festival we couldn’t do it without the support of our hosts at Langara and these other wonderful organizations: Amnesty International Canada; BCGEU; BCTF; CCEC Credit Union; Co-op Radio; CUPE BC; Georgia Straight; HEU; HSA; PSAC-BC; Ten Thousand Villages; The Tyee;  and the VDLC!

Please join us and bring your friends to #codevff!
We’ve been doing this for over ten years but it’s our first year with a #hashtag!

Win a trip to Latin America with CoDevelopment Canada!

That’s right, we’re holding a draw for our amazing members*.  Starting February 10th you can enter a draw for one great prize – a spot on one of our 2013 delegations to Latin America. Draw tickets are $20 each and there is no limit on entries per person! The winner will be drawn at the CoDev & Café Ético open house in December 2012 (exact date TBD).

The value of this amazing experience? Approximately $3,000!

*Not a member? Become a member today and then enter the draw!

You must be 18 years or older to enter.  Draw is only open to CoDev members! Interested in more fine print? Full terms & conditions here for you to read.

In December 2011, CoDev coordinated a Canadian teachers’ delegation to Colombia. In the following article BC Teachers’ Federation provincial executive member Rick Guenther writes of his experiences during the delegation.

I can only begin to imagine life as a union leader in which I regularly receive reports of murdered colleagues, frequently receive death threats, and require the constant presence of armed bodyguards. Yet this is the reality of many people, particularly trade unionists, in Colombia.

While various rebel groups, government forces, and paramilitary groups have been engaged in violent struggle for decades, most of the oppression of union and human rights activists has been perpetrated by the paramilitaries who do their dark work in complex, and for me, poorly understood, relationships with government officials and powerful business interests.

While violence is an inescapable theme in a country beset by civil strife, there clearly exists hope for a truly civil society reflected in the work carried out by many individuals and groups.

During a recent trip to Colombia to attend an Education International (EI) congress our CoDev delegation had opportunities to meet with many people to discuss education and human rights issues and to hear stories. Colombian teacher leaders summarized the effects of violence on their members but they focused more on enthusiastically describing BCTF supported initiatives to develop “pedagogical circles”. These authentic professional learning communities work to improve teaching through action research and philosophical reflection on the fundamental purposes of education. Hearing praise for BCTF contributions to these efforts reaffirms my belief and pride in the international work that we do.

We met with Domingo Ayala, president of ADEMACOR, the teachers’ union in Córdoba province. At least 95 ADEMACOR members have been assassinated since 1985, with 20 of those occurring in the last three years. Most murders were a direct consequence of the victims’ professional and community service.

Domingo has lived with death threats for 20 years and now is accompanied 24 hours a day by two armed bodyguards provided by the government.

The theme of intimidation was mirrored by the stories of Sergio, president of the faculty association at the University of Córdoba, who described the takeover of the university by the paramilitaries a few years ago. During that time, murders of faculty, staff, and students were used to exercise control of the university and suppress any opposition to the paramilitaries. Sergio also lives with bodyguards.

We also met Alirio from the CAJAR human rights lawyers’ collective, an organization leading the struggle to bring human rights violations to light, to prosecute and convict the violators, and to secure reparations for victims. He too lives with death threats and armed bodyguards.

The Hollywood horror movie details in the stories we heard could easily be passed off as exaggerations or inventions. However, as Alirio explained, amnesty laws that provided reduced sentences for paramilitary leaders who confess their crimes encouraged detailed descriptions of human rights abuses that corroborate the testimony of witnesses.

Psychologists tell us that when we are distant from situations, we tend to intellectualize circumstances more than when we directly face them. While I was “familiar” with statistical information regarding the troubles in Colombia, hearing first-hand narratives and wondering at the courage and commitment of those who seek the improvement of human rights was transformational.

What amazed me is the fact that, in spite of the personal dangers they face, these people continue their normal duties, as well as work for improvements in human rights and a more just society. Not surprisingly, the teachers whom I met believe that education is the key. This is indeed the pedagogy of the oppressed.

CoDev invites you to hear from Honduran teachers’ union member Dilcia Diaz, a coordinator with the CoDev supported Non-Sexist Pedagogy program.

Hear from a front line activist as she addresses the de facto government’s “shock therapy” tactics to privatize public education, the role of international financial institutions in dismantling Honduran teachers’ organizations and the new teaching practices COPEMH is developing to promote gender equity and democracy in Honduran classrooms.

Rhizome Cafe, 317 East Broadway, Vancouver.

Sunday, February 5, 2012.  Doors at 5:30pm.  Free.

COPEMH’s Carolina Pineda introduces former Honduran President Mel Zelaya, ousted in June 2009 coup

COPEMH, a Honduran teachers’ union, has been at the forefront of the struggle to restore democracy in Honduras and its president Jaime Rodriguez, is the General Secretary of the National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP), a broad coalition of civil society organizations seeking to overturn the coup.

COPEMH also plays a key role in resisting efforts by the de facto regime to undermine Honduras’ public education system and dismantle the teachers’ organizations. The College has paid a heavy price for its resistance. At least ten teachers have been assassinated since the coup, dozens have been beaten and imprisoned, and hundreds dismissed. The de facto regime has also attempted to break the College financially by with-holding funds from membership dues and intervening in the teachers’ social security fund.

Join Fraser Union, Solidarity Notes, and the Gram Partisans for an Evening of Music for Social Change!

Saturday, March 10, 2012
Doors at 7:30pm, Music at 8:00pm
St. James Community Square, 3214 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver

Tickets

• $20 General Admission
• $15 Student/senior/un-waged
• Kids under 12 free

To purchase:

• Call: 604.708.1495 x112
• Email: codev@codev.org
• Online via Brown Paper Tickets

Event hashtag: #concert4bob

Proceeds from the event will support two of Bob’s Favourite Causes:

• CoDevelopment Canada
• Independent Jewish Voices

Inspiration

Having had some “down time” since the intensity of the young workers delegation to reflect on my experiences, I keep coming back to how inspirational our time in El Salvador was on a variety of levels. As a young worker myself, seeing the incredible work of a number of different youth and worker organizations across El Salvador was truly inspirational.

The National Secretary of the FMLN youth, a guerrilla resistance movement in El Salvador, who have successfully transitioned to a political party and elected their presidential candidate in the last election, shared with us the challenges the party faces but also the success they’ve had in involving youth in all levels of the party. We met with children of displaced FMLN rebels who, on their own, found the funding and resources to build and run a youth center in their remote rural community, and with urban youth in El Triunfo who have organized themselves and have enlisted the help of other youth to join them in community development projects.

We shared a meal with young ex-maquila (sweatshop) workers who told us of the abuse and injustice they faced in the factories and yet of their resolve to continue to fight for fair compensation. Members of a women’s organization proudly showed us their community gardens that they have used to feed their families and wider community despite challenging weather conditions. Inter-generational members of a rural health committee took us on a tour of their community to show the mapping they have done of health and sanitation challenges they face, as well as the gains they have made in the last year. All of these experiences were made possible by the inspirational staff at APSIES, one of CoDev’s Latin American Partners, who are supporting the groups to overcome the immense challenges they face.

Finally, I have been incredibly inspired by my peers on the delegation. They all left the comfort of their own communities and work to travel a great distance physically and culturally, many for the first time, yet despite this they all came with open hearts and minds, eager to learn from and share with everyone we met. Their insightful reflections at the end of our time in Honduras and El Salvador, and their ideas for action in their own lives and wider communities is truly inspirational and a reminder of the power of international solidarity.

Check out other posts from this delegation. While you’re at it, also check out this great blog from one of the participants, Rachel Albiez from the PSAC!

Guest Blogger Irene Lanzinger, B.C. Federation of Labour, shares a report from a recent CoDev delegation to Colombia.

On Friday, December 2, Domingo Ayala, the president of the Teachers’ Union of Cordoba (ADEMACOR) walked into our hotel lobby. He was accompanied by the two armed body guards that have been assigned to him by the state since 1990. The body guards were a graphic reminder of the constant threat of violence faced by Cordoban teachers and union leaders. Domingo came to meet with our group of Canadian teacher activists and union leaders in Colombia on a CoDevelopment Canada tour.

Domingo gave us a tour of the teachers’ union office in Monteria, Cordoba’s capital city. The office is surrounded by a high fence topped with barbed wire. It has a big gate and a guard house. The complex is shared with the provincial office of the CUT, the main labour central in Colombia. The Colombian teachers’ union, FECODE, is the largest affiliate of the CUT and teachers play a key role in that organization.

The security surrounding the complex is evidence that Cordoba is the most dangerous province for educators in a country in which threats and the murder of trade unionists, and particularly teachers, is all too commonplace.

The constant threat of violence results from the very complex political situation in Colombia. Heavily armed rebel groups, paramilitary groups, police and the military interact violently in an environment exacerbated by corruption and the drug trade. Teachers are targeted both because of activism in their union and because of their status in communities.

Domingo began by talking about the monument that marks the entrance to the complex. It was erected in 2009 and commemorates the 50th anniversary of ADEMCOR. It is a memorial to the many Cordoban teachers who have been victims of violence and disappeared or murdered in the service of their colleagues and students.

The statue is of a woman named Manesca, a mythological character of the Zinu, an indigenous people that were the pre-conquest inhabitants of the Montería region. She is a warrior goddess symbolizing the resistance to the Spanish colonization of Colombia. She has a single centered breast indicating the nourishment we rely on from Mother Earth. She carries a bow and arrow. For Cordoban teachers, she symbolizes both the sacrifice of the teachers who were killed as union activists and their rebirth in the ongoing struggle for public education and the rights of teachers.

In addition to threats of violence, extortion and death, the Cordoban teachers have faced attacks by successive neo-liberal governments and have seen the erosion of their salaries and rights, similar to the situation faced by teachers in British Colombia. Membership in the union is voluntary but 14,000 of the 15,000 teachers in the province belong to the union.

In the difficult political climate in Colombia, the University of Cordoba has also been a particular target of the paramilitary forces. We visited with representatives from the university teachers’ union and the administrative staff union, which is part of SINTRAUNICOL, the national union of university workers.

Sergio Castro, president of the university teachers union, explained that the public university was viewed by the paramilitaries as “a hotbed of the left and a breeding ground for guerillas.” He described a particularly difficult time between 2001 and 2008, when the paramilitary forces waged what they called a “campaign of blood and fire” to extinguish the leftist political influence of the university workers and students.

The paramilitary forces considered the seizure of the University of Cordoba a “pilot project” for the control of universities across the country by the paramilitary forces. They forcibly transported representatives from the university professors’ union, the administrative support union and student leaders to a ranch owned by paramilitary commander Salvatore Mancuso. There the commander warned union and student leaders of the planned takeover of the university and gave them a month to subject themselves to paramilitary rule, resign, or face death.

During the paramilitary reign of terror at the university professors and union leaders were often followed and subject to surveillance. They suffered intimidation, persecution, forced exile, psychological terror and killings. When the unions organized sit-ins and protests their leaders were told “we will dress you in a guerilla uniform, put a gun in your hand and turn you over to the military”.

Direct testimony from paramilitaries involved in demilitarization and amnesty processes confirmed the use of horrific violence, torture and murder.

Through these tactics the paramilitaries ensured that their candidate was installed as university rector. They told union leaders “we are gods; not a leaf moves without our permission.” Sergio described it as a “time of terror” for student and union leaders. Consistent with the trend in other countries, neo-liberal policies were introduced at the university. Anyone who opposed those policies was labeled a guerilla.

The university professors made a plea to the Attorney General of Colombia and made submissions to the Inter American Human Rights Commission. As a result union leaders were provided with body guards.

The campaign successfully suppressed the student movement. It is only now beginning to rebuild. While many union leaders were terrorized and silenced, the union movement persisted. Since 2008 things have improved. The current rector is no longer beholden to the paramilitaries but there is still a presence among the administrative staff, students and board of governors.

The unions are working to re-establish democratic processes at the university, to rebuild the student movement, to guarantee free speech and fundamental labour rights, and to secure compensation for the victims of violence.

How do Cordoban teachers and union leaders retain their deep commitment and determination in the face of the horrific threat of violence and death? Perhaps the answer lies in Manesca, the goddess depicted at the entrance to their union office. They are truly continually reborn from that violence and death, giving them the resilience to persist in the struggle for fundamental labour and human rights, democracy and social justice. As Canadians who share their beliefs, we are obliged to do all we can to support them in their struggle.

“The FTA would deepen the crisis that we are living here because the FTA is synonymous with privatization and privatization is synonymous with unemployment, unemployment is synonymous with poverty and misery and misery is synonymous with loss of autonomy and sovereignty for our people and as a country.” Danelly Estupiñan, Afro-Colombian activist in Buenaventura, Colombia on the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. (FTA).

In this excellent article, by Gimena Sanchez of WOLA (Washington Office on Latin America) and Kelly Nicholls of USOC (US Office on Colombia) and originally published in NACLA, the recently passed US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is seen through the lens of Buenaventura, Colombia’s major port and one of its’ most violent cities. Buenaventura citizens are primarily Afro-Colombians who face high rates of unemployment and poverty alongside brutal paramilitary violence, massacres, disappearances and now further displacement and misery due to the port expansion in preparation for the FTA. The article includes the themes of union busting and labour rights violations that jumped dramatically after the privatization of the port more than a decade ago.

Though smaller in nature than the US-Colombia FTA, the Canada-Colombia FTA will support the same forms of trade; promoting foreign investment and privatization over the needs and rights of local communities.

Buenaventure, Colombia; Credit: Josh Berson

CoDev’s Colombian partner, NOMADESC, works alongside Buenaventura communities to support their struggles to defend human rights, resist displacement and build positive futures. CoDev has visited and met with community leaders and activists from Buenaventura many times, most recently in October 2010 when we met with communities in nearby Malaga Bay who have been threatened with displacement in order to create a deep water port facility.

Courage

In the face of adversity, courage can take many forms. We have seen so much bravery over the last few days… It’s humbling and inspiring. On Saturday, we met with Tirza and Guillermo, two lawyers from the Association of Judges for Democracy. Appointed as Supreme Court Judges nearly a decade ago, they both lost their jobs as a direct result of criticizing the Supreme Court’s role in supporting the military coup. Not only did they lose their incomes, they lost their reputations, and have struggled to find enough work as lawyers to make ends meet. But in the face of continuing persecution, they have continued their work trying to create stable, well-governed institutions within the Honduran judiciary.

Later that day, the personal stories of maquila workers from CODEMUH poured out, and we listened as they went from tearful explanations of illnesses and outrages to expressions of strength. They are so brave to confront their employers, and they are so brave to tell us their intensely personal stories. Their lives are a constant struggle, and they have to muster enormous amounts of strength just to get through each day.

Today we were given a measured and organized presentation on the situation in Honduras by the workers of the Honduras Accompaniment Project. But the calm of their presentation belied the danger of their work – every day they set out to stand with Honduran human rights workers in whatever way they can. It may be to stand with them physically in times of danger, or it may be just a consultation on a human rights matter. They are no doubt inspired by the courage of the Hondurans they accompany, but their personal bravery was an inspiration to us.

We can all take a measure of this courage back with us, to light the way in our own struggles.

Check out other posts from this delegation. While you’re at it, also check out this great blog from one of the participants, Rachel Albiez from the PSAC!